Thousands of illegal immigrants have obtained official government identification cards in the last few months thanks to a costly program operated by a California sanctuary city that for years has protected even the most violent of felons from deportation.

Launched in January, San Francisco’s identification card program has so far issued 2,135 municipal ID cards—mostly to illegal immigrants—and officials say the city is booked solid for months with residents who have made appointments to obtain the coveted cards.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance in late 2007 authorizing the SF City ID Card beginning this year so that illegal immigrants could enjoy public services and integrate into the community. Although California is suffering from its worst financial crisis in history, the city is spending nearly $1 million to give its illegal aliens official photo identification cards so they can access taxpayer-financed government services.

A few years ago New Haven Connecticut began offering similar IDs so that illegal immigrants could enjoy public services and integrate into the community. So far New Haven, which has an estimated 15,000 illegal immigrants, has issued nearly 5,000 cards. San Francisco is the only major U.S. city to offer the perk, however.

The notoriously liberal “City by the Bay” has long provided illegal immigrants sanctuary, allowing violent criminals to remain in its jurisdiction rather than be deported. The policy was heavily scrutinized last year after a pair of incidents involving previously convicted illegal immigrant felons received national attention.

In the first a Salvadoran gang member, previously convicted of two felonies, brutally murdered a father and his two sons in San Francisco. Besides serving jail time and numerous law enforcement encounters, the violent illegal alien was never reported to federal immigration authorities for deportation.

Weeks later a different illegal immigrant gang banger, also protected from deportation after several felony convictions, got arrested for violently stabbing a man. Authorities called it an “especially vicious” crime because the victim was “gutted” like a “pig.”